'Hunger Games' author Suzanne Collins, in rare interview, muses on war and the cycle of violence

Suzanne Collins says she 'sort of completed' a goal of hers this fall by releasing her children's book 'Year of the Jungle,' which examines war from a child's point of view. Collins wants to write a book about war for every child age group, she says.

In an interview with Time Magazine, “Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins discussed the upcoming film adaptation of the second book in her series, her favorite characters, and her children’s book “Year of the Jungle.”

“Catching Fire,” the second book of the “Hunger Games” series, focuses on protagonist Katniss and her friend and fellow Games victor Peeta as they deal with the aftermath of their win and are forced to go back into the arena as unrest in the country grows.

Collins agreed with Time critic Lev Grossman when Grossman told her that two of Katniss and Peeta’s fellow victors, Johanna and Finnick, are his favorite characters.

“They’re sort of onion characters,” Collins said of the two. “And as you peel back the layers you find more and more about what they’ve experienced.”

She also commented on the seeming difference between her writing “Hunger Games” and penning scripts for the comforting children’s TV series “Little Bear.”

“All the writing elements are the same,” Collins said of writing the two. “You need to tell a good story…. You’ve got good characters…. People think there’s some a dramatic difference between writing Little Bear and the Hunger Games, and as a writer, for me, there isn’t.”